Memo to Sir David Clementi: Obiter realises that you've got your hands full at the moment - having to restructure the legal profession, and all - but perhaps we could raise one point that might otherwise slip through the net unnoticed.

In the archaic and labyrinthine world that is the legal profession, there are many dark recesses that can only be described as almost bizarrely ritualistic - for example, the dozen or so dinners that are still required of aspiring barristers before they are called.

Last week, Obiter was privileged to be taken to a dinner at Middle Temple Hall and therefore treated to a first-hand glimpse of the bar's initiation customs.

In slightly embarrassed tones, our host trotted out the usual justification for these events - 'builds and reinforces the collegiate atmosphere at the bar' etc.

Truth be told, while we had a very enjoyable dinner (the meal was surprisingly unlike school dinners - see menu), Obiter was disappointed by the lack of ritual, though.

No chickens were slaughtered, and the only funny headgear donned was of the standard horsehair variety commonly found in courtrooms around the country.

There was a solemn man who pounded a large rod against the floorboards, but that was about it.

Obiter is hoping for a few more invitations and will keep Sir David and readers informed if anything more strange occurs.

This article refers to images that appear in the printed edition, see [2004] Gazette, 18 March, page 14